Tinker Effect
by Dis Lexic
Summary: Most people in my situation are there due to vaguely defined ROBs dragging them into a malfunctioning game. In my case, I think its because of a group of interdimensional nutcases out to defeat a golden Superman. Oh well, at least I'm not as helpless as some of them.
1. Chapter 1

Tinker Effect

Most people in my situation are there due to vaguely defined ROBs dragging them into a malfunctioning game. In my case, I think its because of a group of interdimensional nutcases out to defeat a golden Superman. Oh well, at least I'm not as helpless as some of them.

 **Hmm, Worms becoming my new DXD...eh, its a fun sandbox to play in. That said, this time the Worm side will be a tad more background, mostly limited to a few cameos and possibly Shepard getting her arse kicked by Contessa. Should be fun. Anyway, enjoy!**

Chapter 1

The first thing I became aware of as consciousness returned to me was the pounding in my temples, closely followed by the realization I was laying in a puddle of some unknown liquid.

"Urrg, what the fuck did I drink last night?" I groaned as I slowly pushed myself up.

It took a few trys, but eventually I was able to force my eyes open. I found myself sitting in an alleyway between two buildings, with my only company being an overflowing dumpster. Lovely.

"Where am I?" I muttered.

I pushed through the pain and tried to remember what the hell happened last night...only to suddenly realize that I was missing massive gaps of my memories. I could remember bits and pieces, like where I had grown up and that I was a literature student, but I couldn't remember things like my own Parents names. Hell, I couldn't even remember which University I attended! Just about the only thing I remembered with any clarity was reading a web serial named Worm. How scary is it that I could remember that but I couldn't remember what my name was or even what I looked like?

"Whats going on?" I groaned, "Why can't I remember anything? Urrg, I need...I need to…"

I wasn't sure what I needed, but I struggled to my feet none the less. I took a step forwards...and promptly fell flat on my face.

"Owww, what the hell?" I groaned as I pushed myself up.

As I did, I made a rather startling discovery. My hands had completely changed and a quick glance down revealed that they weren't the only thing. I now had three fingers and toes, dusky purple skin and my legs had a rather large backbend that revealed the reason why I face planted so spectacularly.

"I...what the fuck?!" I spluttered.

I stood and, still wobbling on my unfamiler legs, stumbled over to the wall of the alley where a darkened window was set at about head height. It wasn't the best mirror, but it revealed that my face was also completely different and visibly not Human. Aside from the obvious change in skin colour, my ears were longer and tapered to a point and my eyes were a little too large, almond shaped and one flat pale lavender colour, making them look like the Hyuuga clan's Byakugan eyes and glowing faintly. The rest of my features were surprisingly Human, although my hair looked a little thicker than a Humans and was a shade of very dark blue. I was currently wearing what looked like the tattered remains of a jumpsuit of some kind that was splattered with blood and full of holes that I'm pretty sure were from bullets. However, other than my newly inhuman features, the thing that most drew my eye was the tattoo on my cheek of an Omega symbol.

"I...oh you have got to be kidding me!" I whispered, "Is that…"

My thoughts were cut off by the sound of a loud voice coming from the entrance of the alley. Not really wanted to get found quite yet, I dove behind the dumpster, just in time for the newcomers to round the corner, dragging something behind them.

"Damn suit rats, don't even have the dignity to die in the trash where they belong," growled a deep, male voice.

Another voice answered, but it wasn't speaking any language I recognized. Instead, it sounded more like a cross between a six foot bird and a raptor. The english speaker seemed to understand whatever was said though as he grunted in agreement.

"Come on, lets dump it and get out of here," he said, "No point in sticking around. It doesn't even have anything worth taking. Even this gun is crap."

There was another squark and the sound of something heavy being tossed into the dumpster, before the footsteps moved away. I cautiously peaked out from behind the dumpster and my jaw dropped when I saw a Human and what looked like a Turian walking away. I quickly pulled my head back into my hiding place before I could be spotted and sat still, my eyes wide. Well, isn't that interesting? Apparently, I was actually in the Mass Effect universe...or there was a Turian based Case 53 walking around. Not sure which is more likely. Then again, the Human was talking about suit rats, so…

I quickly stood and opened the lid to find, sure enough, that the body they'd dumped was a Quarian. Yep, definitely Mass Effect. I quickly heaved the body out, grabbed the discarded gun that was next to it, and dragged the corpse deeper into the alley. I didn't exactly like the idea of looting the corpse, but the envirosuit would make a good disguise and I could at least defend myself with the gun. He might even have an Omni Tool I could use.

I quickly found an abandoned looking building and dragged the dead Quarian inside after prising the doors open. Once inside, I started trying to figure out how to remove the Quarians suit, only to make a rather startling discovery.

"Huh...how did that happen?" I muttered as I stared down at the dusky purple face that had been hidden by his mask.

I quickly examined the rest of the body and, sure enough, my biology was an exact match for the Quarian. Same build of limbs, same solid white eyes, same everything. The only difference was that he had black markings swirling on his skin like tribal tattoos that I lacked, but that could be dismissed as simply something that not all Quarians had. I frowned. This was...bloody weird. All of the indications were that I was one of the Cauldrons victims, being in the apparent ME universe aside. However, that didn't explain why I was physically identical to a Quarian. Then, a rather worrying thought crossed my mind. If I looked like a Quarian, did that mean that my immune system was the same? I felt fine, but I'd been here for about an hour. Was that long enough to catch something nasty?

Now feeling really worried, I quickly detached the Quarian's Omni Tool and brought up the inevitable medical scanner. Two seconds later, I was staring at the results in shock. I had nothing to worry about. At all. My immune system wasn't weak, in fact, it was right up the other end of the scale. Judging from the readings I was getting, I could probably shrug off just about any disease you can think of in moments. Hell, even poisons would have a hard time affecting me! Not to mention the fact that my biology was still Levo based, although it looked like I was still compatible with Dextro as well...somehow. Oh, and I still showed up as a Human, albeit with some fucking weird additions to my DNA. Parahumans are fucking bullshit.

I breathed a sigh of relief, before I blinked and looked down. How did I do that? I'd never even seen an Omni Tool since just a second ago and yet I'd managed to, not only identify it, but also operate it like I'd been using it for years. Hell, now that I took a moment to think about it, I'd actually just improved the scanner without even thinking about it! I frowned as I put the finishing touches to the improved Cyro Shot program and...I'd done it again! In the time it had taken me to question myself, I'd create a program that would let me freeze a target right down to the bone. How did...ohhhhh.

"Well, I guess that fits," I muttered as I carefully dropped my arms and picked up the gun I'd rescued, "A Quarian based Case 53 being a Tinker...shame really, I'd have liked to be able to fly...oh god damn it!"

I held up the newly upgraded pistol and ran a critical eye over it. I'm not sure how I knew it, but I'd somehow just increased its penetrating power, number of shots between cooldown cycles and accuracy. I'd also given it the ability to fire Warp blasts using the tiny amount of Eezo inside and...holy shit, how did I do that?!

"Good grief, I'm a Tinker specializing in ME tech in the ME universe," I muttered, shaking my head in exasperation, "Thats so broken its unreal. I wonder how I got here though..?"

Unfortunately, unless I wanted to find a way to contact the Cauldron, I wasn't likely to get that answer. It probably had something to do with the Path to Victory though. Maybe Contessa intended to recruit Shepard to fight Scion or something? Then again, I suspect that the Entities are a tad more difficult to deal with than the Reapers. After all, the Reapers might be a galactic threat, but the Entities were a DIMENSIONAL one. Bit of a step up.

I shook myself off and turned off my Omnitool with a scowl as I realized I'd been programming it to be able to fire of Reave shots (somehow) and turned back to the dead Quarian. I didn't need it, but the envirosuit would be a great way to disguise myself. I would need to modify it of course, not only to increase the defence and possibly include a strength enhancing device, but also so no other Quarian would recognize it. Hmm, maybe if I add in some Eezo dust it'd let me fly or even…

I shook myself out of the Tinker trance and stripped the Quarian before I started thinking of ways to use his body to create mechanical spiders or something...GOD DAMN IT!

* * *

Tony Marvolo peaked nervously over the edge of the makeshift cover he and his buddies were hiding behind. He'd known from the start that trying to rob the Citadel's upper classes during the charity ball was a TERRIBLE idea, but the boss had insisted and one does not go against the boss when he insists on something. Now he and his buddies were pinned down by C-sec with nothing but the flimsy, fake-wooden barricades between them and being riddled by sand grain sized Tungsten rounds. Just about the only good thing about the whole situation was the many hostages they had was keeping the cops at bay. For now.

Then, the lights went out.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" yelled one of his buddies from across the room, "WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS!?"

A moment later, there was a meaty smack and the sound of a body hitting the floor.

Immediately, Krug, the Krogen of the group, turned and fired a blast from his shotgun in the direction of the sound.

"What the fuck Krug?!" spluttered someone not far from the target.

"Shhh, somethings here," growled the Krogen.

There was a moments silence, before he suddenly let out a roar and fired of three shots that momentarily lit up the room.

"Did you get him?" asked Tony, doing his best to stop his voice from trembling.

"No."

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin at the unexpected voice in his ear, before someone rammed something sharp under his armour and one million volts of electricity surged through his body.

* * *

Garrus Vakarian tapped his talons against the car he was taking cover behind as he shifted his grip on his pistol. He'd have prefered to be one of the snipers positioned on the roof across the street, but as one of the first officers to respond, he was stuck on the ground, waiting for the order to move in. Frankly, the Turian was of the opinion that they should have already done something, but the higher ups were worried about spooking the crooks inside. To be fair, that wasn't completely without merit considering that the leader of the gang was a known sociopath and would have no problem whatsoever with executing his hostages if pushed.

On the other hand, they couldn't sit here all night and there had been the sound of gunfire a short time ago which really didn't help Garrus' worry. Eventually, something had to break…

CRASH!

As if on cue, one of the windows suddenly exploded as someone was kicked through the glass. As they fell, the person lit up with a Biotic aura and took hold of the glass fragments, flinging them at the figure who followed him through with a roar of fury. The second figure brought up the staff-like weapon they were holding and spun it, deflecting the razor sharp projectiles, before shooting a grappling hook out of one end of the staff that wrapped around the falling Biotic (who Garrus had identified as Brad Meadows, the leader of the attacking gang) and yanking him back. The staff wielder spun in the air and drove his heel into Meadow's gut, sending him crashing to the ground with enough force to crack the concrete.

Now they were at ground level, Garrus saw that the mysterious newcomer was apparently a Quarian, although his Envirosuit was clearly heavily modified with armoured segments and seemed to be made of some kind of fabric Garrus didn't recognize that shimmered slightly in the floodlights. His helmet was also rather different, with metal plates covering it, leaving only a pair of slits where his eyes were rather than the standard tinted visor most Quarians used and covered in a blue hood. The weapon in his hands was actually headed with a rather deadly looking blade that he vaguely recognized as being a Halberd with a blade at both ends, one of which was currently acting as the tip of a grappling hook.

"So, still want to fight?" asked the Quarian mildly as if he wasn't stood on the clearly broken criminal.

Meadow's spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Fuck you suitrat!" he snarled.

"Suit yourself," said the Quarian and pushed a button on his staff.

There was a crackle of electricity and Meadow's jerked violently, before going limp. Muttering something under his breath, the Quarian retracted his grappling hook and flash forged a set of restraints onto the lightly steaming criminals wrists with his Omni Tool. With that done, he attached his halberd to his back, heaved Meadow's over his shoulder, turned on his heel and marched over to the gathered C-sec cars and the C-sec personal who were all staring at him with expressions ranging from worry to complete and utter disbelief.

"Here, I think this is yours," said the Quarian, dropping Meadow's on the bonnet of one of the cars, "His goons are chained up inside and the Krogen is currently cooling off with a cocktail of rather potent tranquilizers in his system. I strongly suggest that you get him somewhere secure before they wear off cus he won't be happy when he wakes up."

What he got was a battery of incredulous looks.

"What?"

Garrus quickly shook himself out of his utter shock and quickly issued orders to take Meadows into custody and head inside to check on the others. He had no real reason to doubt the odd Quarian considering he'd come from inside and seemed to be honest.

"Right, now thats done, I need to get back to work," said the Quarian, "Bloody crooks, just had to start attacking when I was in the middle of Tinkering…"

"Hold on a second!" called Garrus, making the Quarian pause.

"Hn? Need something?" he said.

"Who are you?" asked Garrus, "And...why did you help?"

The Quarian shrugged.

"Why not?" he asked, "I heard about this little caffuffle on the radio and figured it'd be a good field test for my gear. Turns out I still need to make some adjustments and now I have a whole load of new ideas that'll be useful for non-lethal takedowns and…"

He shook himself violently.

"Stupid Tinker trances," he muttered, "Anyway, I guess you can call me Arsenal."

With that, he turned and walked away, muttering to himself and fiddling with his Omni Tool.

 **And there we go, done. Well...the Reapers are boned. Seriously, an ME based Tinker in the ME Universe? He could probably build something designed to take down the Reapers out of duct tape and paperclips.**

 **To be clear, Arsenal is a Case 53, which means he's a mutated Human who just so happens to be physically identical to a Quarian...on the surface at least. Hes a primarily a Tinker, but his altered body grants him above Human physical powers, although not high enough to be marked as more than a Brute 1 or 2. Well, naturally at least. Like all Tinkers, he uses power armour and in his case, it can even grant him the ability to use Biotics. Hell, he could build a gun that shoots singularities with relative ease.**

 **Yes, the Citadel now has its very own Cape and yes, Brad Meadows is a reference to Worm. Although I don't plan to send them to Bet any time soon, Arsenal and Shepards team will run into a fair few familiar faces on their travels. There won't be any other Parahumans though. Mainly because there aren't any Entities and the Cauldron has no interest in offering powers to people not on worlds at risk of being obliterated by eldritch abominations.**

 **Anyway, I'm done now. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	2. Chapter 2

Tinker Effect

Most people in my situation are there due to vaguely defined ROBs dragging them into a malfunctioning game. In my case, I think its because of a group of interdimensional nutcases out to defeat a golden Superman. Oh well, at least I'm not as helpless as some of them.

 **And we're back. Nothing to say here, other than enjoy!**

Chapter 2

It had been six months since my debut as Arsenal and I was still finding it hard to believe that I was basically a superhero now. I mean, I know that I'd probably have ended up doing something similar if I'd ended up on Bet, but I was on the Citadel running around punching crooks in the face and using them as live dummy's for my less lethal tech (or even my lethal stuff in some cases). Hell, I'd even taken down a gang of degenerate drug dealers operating in the lower sections of the Wards led by an odious little degenerate who went by Skidmark. It was at about that point when I went back and checked the names of some of the idiots I'd taken down and realized I'd somehow managed to take down half the Capes in the E88 and most of the Merchants. None of them were Parahumans of course, but there were a few Biotics. I'd spent a few minutes trying to decide how to feel about that, before I gave up and hacked the CEO of ExoGeni's computer to blow Max Anders shitty actions all over the internet. I'd have felt more guilty about that, except that Anders wife had nothing to do with her husbands gang and took the reigns of the company to turn it back in the direction it was supposed to go.

In addition to dealing with the surprising number of gangs that operated in the seedy underbelly of the Citadel, I also took down three batarian slave rings, an illegal dog-fighting ring that was somehow a thing and an illegal Vorcha strip club. Don't ask. I also spent a lot of time dodging C-sec since Executor Pallin had decided I was a menace to public order and had ordered my arrest. Unfortunately for him, I'd hacked C-secs comms and, even if they did manage to corner me, I just left the officers floating helplessly in a Singularity. I think it helped that most of the street level officers actually liked me for helping to bring in a good number of wanted crooks.

As an added bonus, there was a great deal of goodwill from the public as a result of my more public heroics, although there was a bit of grumbling about the fact I was apparently a Quarian. I did have the side effect of making everyone be a lot more polite to the visiting Quarians after I pitched one annoying moron who tried hassling me when I went out in my civies off a bridge and into a pond.

I also made it a point to keep an eye on the news to try and ensure I could tag along with Shepard once she (colonist and Lion of Elysium) showed up for the start of the story. Some people might be worried about convincing her to take them on, but considering I could probably build a weaponized Mass Relay out of spare parts, I wasn't that worried.

* * *

I was in the middle of my latest attempt to create something similar to Dragons Containment Foam (which wasn't going well) when a loud alarm from my Omnitool made me jump. After wiping foam from the resultant explosion off my goggles, I activated my Omnitool and found that the alert had come from one of the bots I'd added to C-secs systems meant to alert me to any shootouts occuring in Chora's Den. Admittedly, they happened about once a week, so I'd stopped rushing down after the third turned out to be a false alarm and got me into a fight with a Krogen, but considering I knew for a fact that I'd also received an alert regarding the Geth invasion of Eden Prime, I was willing to bet that this was what I was waiting for.

I quickly suited up, attaching my Halberd to my back, my guns to my hips and snatching up my helmet and recently built hoverboard (because why not?) on my way out. As I left my workshop, I sent a signal that would cause all my equipment to fold up into easily transportable modes for later retrieval and put on my helmet, the armour plating snapping into place as I jumped onto my board and shot down the street at high speed.

* * *

It didn't take me long to reach the alley leading to Chora's Den where I found a sight that would work much better to endear me to the crew, namely, Tali's meeting with Sarens would-be assassins. I bought my board to a stop above them and drew my guns.

"Oi, dipshits!" I shouted down, making all three jump and look up, "Leave the poor girl alone!"

"Oh shit, its Arsenal!" yelped one of the Salarians.

The Turian scoffed.

"You mean that so-called hero whos been running around causing trouble?" he sneered, "I've been wanting to…"

BANG!

SPLAT!

"Sorry, he was getting annoying," I said as the now-headless Turian collapsed, "So, are you two gonna try anything?"

The Salarians glanced at each other, before sprinting away. I rolled my eyes and raised an arm to point at them. There was a loud bang and a large net shot out, sweeping both of them up and shocking them hard enough to knock them unconscious.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," I said as I holsted my guns and lowered my board down to the stunned looking Tali, "Are you OK Miss?"

Before she could answer, a round bounced of my shield making her jump and me sigh. Like all my gear, my Kinetic Barriers had received the full Tinker Treatment and could now tank a tank shell without going down.

"Hold fire, hes a friendly!" shouted a familiar voice.

"Hey Garrus, long time no see," I said, turning to the approaching group.

"Arsenal, I see your as efficient as ever," said my Turian friend with a grin, "And you have yet another new toy."

I grinned and dropped down to sit on my board like a floating bench.

"Yep, although its still got a few bugs I need to sort out," I said.

As if on cue, the ME field keeping me aloft vanished and I dropped straight down.

"Bugs indeed," said Garrus, clearly smothering his laughter.

I glared at the Turian as I got to my feet, rubbing my behind.

"Um, not to interrupt, but who exactly are you?" asked Shepard.

"Oh, sorry," I said, "Names Arsenal, Tinker and resident hero."

"Hero?" asked Ashley.

"Hes been running around the Citadel for the past six months cleaning up street level crime," said Garrus, "Hes rather good at it, both in dealing with criminals and avoiding any C-sec patrols the Executor sends after him."

"What, you mean hes like Batman?" asked Ashley with a raised eyebrow.

"Kinda, but with a lot less brooding," I said distractedly as I tried to get my board working again, "Oh fuck this, I'll fix it later."

I pressed a hidden switch that made the board fold up to the size of a large phone and slipped it into a pouch on my belt.

"Wha...how did you do that?!" spluttered Tali.

"Hmm? Oh, with excessive amounts of ME fields, some technology I only vaguely understand and by bending physics over the table and giving it a good rogering," I said.

"Wait, what?"

"Alright, thats enough!" yelled Shepard, "Sorry to interrupt, but we're kinda on the clock here."

"Your after intel on Saren and his Geth, right?" I asked.

"Alright, how in the hell do you know that?" asked Garrus.

"I've hacked into C-secs systems," I said blandly, "Its not that hard to figure it out considering some of the information on there."

"Anything we can use?" asked Garrus, apparently well used to my brand of bullshit that he didn't ask questions.

"Not really," I said, "I did manage to find Sarens ship movements that indicate he was in the Exodus Cluster at about the same time the attack went down which might be useful as circumstantial evidence."

"Maybe if you didn't obtain it illegally."

"Eh, semantics."

Garrus just rolled his eyes.

"Right, lets get going," said Shepard, "We need to meet Udina about the upcoming trial and he'll need this evidence. Arsenal was it?"

"Yep."

"Right, do you mind coming along to? It might be illegal, but that intel might still be useful."

I shrugged.

"Sure thing," I said, "If it means I get to fuck with the Council and that bastard Saren I'll happily eat my helmet."

"You don't like the Council?" asked Alenko as we started heading back towards the Presidium.

"No, I don't," I grumbled, "Those assholes confiscated my first base and a full two months worth of hard work. On the up side, I'm pretty sure my tech gave at least two Salarians mental breakdowns and I got a message from the STG begging me to stop doing horrible things to the fabric of reality. I also intercepted a message to the Council flatly refusing to have anything to do with my tech ever again."

"I'm more curious about those," said Williams, indicating to the guns on my hips, "How did you even get your hands on such oldschool weapons?"

I grinned and drew one.

"They aren't actually handguns," I said as I removed the side from the gun, revealing a bright, blue glow inside, "They just look like them. Their actually highly advanced firearms that use ME principles to fire bolts of highly compressed plasma."

"Y-you've built viable energy weapons?!" spluttered Tali, "How!?"

I shrugged as I rebuilt my weapon and returned it to its holster.

"I'm a Tinker, its just how I roll," I said, "You'll find that all my techs the same. Ridiculously advanced to the point where no one can replicate or even maintain it in most cases."

"How is that even possible?!"

"Fuck if I know."

The rest of the trip was spent in silence.

* * *

The meeting with Udina went about as well as you might expect. I think the fact I got bored and started tinkering with my Omni Tool might have annoyed the good Ambassador a little considering he want an interesting shade of purple that nearly matched my own skin. I think its probably a good thing that I outright refused to go to the Council meeting due to worries of 'accidentally' shooting the Councillor or Udina might have had a stroke. I did tag along to the Council Chambers though, if only to offer my assistance to Shepard once he got made a Spectre. I used the time to try and fix my board.

"Do you mind?" I asked, glancing back at Tali who was craning her neck over my shoulder.

"Oh, sorry," she said, "Um, what are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out a way to improve the power connections to the ME field generators," I said, "Currently, theres a problem where the capacitors keep overloading and triggering the emergency shut off after being in use for a while. Not exactly what you want in the middle of combat."

There was a spark and I closed the board back up.

"That'll do for now. I'll need the rest of my equipment to fully fix the issue though."

Tali looked like she was about to ask something else, but before she could, Shepard and Anderson came over. Shepard had finally taken off her helmet and I ended up having to take a rather large double take. I had been expecting her to look like the default fem-shep, but instead she had wavy, black hair, pale tanned skin and a soft, gray eyes. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but something about her was pinging my instincts and tickling my buried memories. For some reason, I felt like I'd seen her before.

"Are you OK Arsenal?" asked Garrus.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine," I said as I realized I'd been staring at Shepard for a couple of minutes.

Thankfully, my mask made it impossible to figure out where I was looking. I cleared my throat and stepped forwards as Anderson and Udina hurried towards the lifts.

"Anyway, if you need some extra tech support, I'd be happy to offer it," I said.

"Don't you have work to do here?" asked Kaiden.

I gave him a funny look.

"No, I only acted as a Hero so I could stress test my gear," I said, "C-sec is good at their job, they can do it."

"I'm not going to turn down offered help," said Shepard, "Especially if your as good some of the reports say."

I grinned.

"Oh, I am, believe me," I said, "Plus, I can upgrade the teams gear to give us even more of an advantage."

Shepard nodded.

"Alright, in that case, gather your stuff and meet us at Dock 68," she said, "Williams, you go with him."

"Yes Ma'am," said the Gunnery Chief, although she didn't look particularly happy about it.

"Well, some help shifting my equipment would be handy," I said, "Right, I'll see you back at your ship then. Later Shep."

I hopped onto my board and floated away, ignoring Williams spluttering as she hurried after me.

* * *

"So, why exactly do you have a spear?" asked Williams as we headed through the Wards in the direction of my workshop.

"Its a Halberd actually," I said, "And I use it because its handy for close quarters fighting while not being immediately deadly. Most of my targets in the past have been criminals and C-sec tends to get snippy if random people start killing crooks."

"You do know that the people we face will be trying to kill us, right?" asked Williams.

"Of course, even the crooks tried to kill me," I said dismissively, "But I only kept to my non-lethal equipment here to keep the law enforcement happy. I have plenty of deadly weapons at my disposal. Here we are."

I stopped in front of a seemingly abandoned warehouse in the Wards and brought up my Omni Tool.

"Here? But theres...nothing...holy shit!" said Ashley, her eyes going wide as the doors opened and revealed the shiny and well maintained interior.

"I have to keep the curious folk out somehow," I said as I walked inside and put my weapons in their places, before pushing a button that made the whole rack fold up.

"What is all this stuff?" asked Williams, examining the metal boxes that were placed apparently randomly around the room.

"I designed all my equipment with mobility in mind," I said, "As such, it can fold down to an easilly carried size and uses ME fields to make it so it weighs about the same as a briefcase. Of course, theres still a lot of it, so we're gonna need my truck."

"And all that?" asked Williams, pointing at the stack of crates in the corner.

"My supplies and materials," I said, "I'll need that to since some of its kinda expensive and hard to come by."

"Bloody hell, is this all Eezo!?" gasped Williams as she spotted the label on one of the crates.

"Not all of it, but I do need quite a bit for my tech," I said, "I confiscated all the weapons from the gangs I took down and dismantled them to get it. It took me a while to build up that stockpile, so I don't really want to lose it."

I walked over to a control panel on the door and pressed a button, causing it to open and reveal a skytruck with a flatbed.

"Help me load up and we can get it all over to the ship," I said, picking up one of the crates.

Thanks to a combination of the easy to move designs of my equipment and the ME fields making them weigh practically nothing, it didn't take us long to load the truck. Once it was all away, I removed the outer armour of my costume, retracted the metal plates from over my visor and hopped into the cab.

"Why did you do that?" asked Williams as she climbed in next to me.

I shrugged.

"The armours good for keeping me from getting shot, but I don't need it right now," I said, "Besides, the plates make it hard to see."

Williams couldn't really argue with that.

* * *

Considering it was about lunch time, there wasn't much in the way of traffic and, other than a short argument with a guard in charge of keeping random mooks out of the loading yard for Alliance ships, it wasn't long before we arrived at the Normandy. I whistled as I got out of the cab.

"Nice, very impressive," I said as my power started feeding me ideas for upgrading the ships...everything.

I shoved the urge to start Tinkering aside and followed Williams over to where a man was barking orders. As we approached, he finished berating a hapless worker and turned to us.

"Ah, Gunnery Chief, we're nearly done restocking the ship," said the man.

"Good work Adams," said Williams, "This is one of our new crew members, Arsenal. Hes got some...equipment that needs to go on the ship."

Adams turned and raised an eyebrow at me.

"A Quarian?" he asked, "Well, we certainly won't say no to your expertees."

"Thanks, I'll help where I can," I said, "My equipment is over there. If you and your men could get it on the ship and put it somewhere with a bit of space I can use, I'll sort it out later. Don't try and open any of it please, I've installed some rather nasty security features and I don't want anyone getting hurt."

Engineer Adams nodded and shouted at a couple of workers stood nearby who jumped to start unloading my truck. Leaving them too it, I followed Williams onto the ship through the cargo where I quickly found a suitable place out of the way that I could set up my lab and directed the workers to put the stuff down where I needed it and Williams headed up in the lift.

* * *

I was in the middle of setting up my workbench when Shepards voice came over the PA with a rather Paragon speech about doing our best to take down Saren and other stuff. I was in the middle of a slight Tinker Trance at the time, so I wasn't really paying attention as my Agent provided me with some rather interesting plans for a weapon that would be perfect for Wrex. I pushed the idea aside for now though as my stomach rumbled loudly, reminding me that I hadn't eaten since breakfast.

With that thought, I left my new lab in search of some grub, whistling happily as I headed upstairs and into the mess, I grabbed a tray and some food and headed back towards the lift, passing Alenko as I did.

"Um, you do know thats Levo food, right?" asked the Biotic Lieutenant.

"I do indeed," I said as I entered the lift and hit the button for the cargo hold.

Two minutes later, I was back in my lab, which I had intentionally hidden behind stacks of crates and a few fold up walls. I didn't really intend to keep hiding the fact I wasn't really a Quarian from the crew, but for now, I didn't feel like explaining. I tapped the side of my helmet and, with a series of metallic clicks, it loosened and I lifted it off, putting it to one side as I took a bite from my plate and started grabbing the tools and parts I needed for my latest project.

Before I could get started though, a sudden scream made me jump and spin around to see that Tali had just rounded the corner.

"Oh hey Tali, need something?" I asked, ignoring her obvious shock and horror.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" shreaked Tali as she sprinted across the room, already with her Omni Tool active to scan me, "DO YOU WANT TO...di...WHAT THE…"

My translator neglected to translate the last word.

"Yeah, I ain't exactly normal," I said, cleaning out my ear with a finger.

"I...who...what are you?!" spluttered Tali, "Your not a Quarian."

"True," I said, "I may look like one, but my immune system is stronger than a Krogens, my biology is capable of using both Levo and Dextro based proteins and my brain is capable of coming up with technology and innovations that I only vaguely understand at the best of times. And thats when its not simply messing with the fabric of reality in a way that would make Albert Einstein cry and beg for mercy."

"Who?"

"Human physicist from the 20th century," I said.

"But...the medical scanners registering you as Human," said Tali.

I gave a thin smile.

"I am aware," I said, "The problem is, I have no idea how I ended up like this. I know that I used to be a normal Human, but my memories from before about six months ago are extremely fragmented. I remember a few bits and pieces, like the fact I was a University student and a few details about the town where I grew up, but most of it is just blank."

"But then how…"

I shrugged and spread my fingers.

"Who knows?" I said, "Although I suspect it involved a shadow organization and excessive experimentation."

I tapped the Omega tattoo on my cheek.

"This has got an ID number hidden in it and its not a normal tattoo. I have no idea what its made of, but I do know that its far more heavy duty than normal tattoo ink. I doubt it'll ever fade and nothing I can think of has been able to remove it."

"Some kind of tracker chip?" asked Tali.

I shook my head. The Cauldron didn't need anything like that, not with the Clairvoyant and Contessa on their payroll.

"No, its nothing like that," I said, "Its just ink under the skin, just really unusual ink."

There was a moments silence, broken only by the sound of my tools as I kept working.

"Why tell me all that?" asked Tali.

I shrugged.

"Why not?" I said, "I don't intend to keep my origins, or lack thereof, from the crew, mainly because I don't really want to spend 24-7 in my armour and its not like theres any harm in telling you."

Tali winced and I quickly figured out why.

"Sorry, that was…"

"Its fine," muttered Tali, a little sullenly, "Although I do have one question though."

"Shoot."

"Why are you taking apart your hoverboard?"

I blinked and looked down.

"OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!"

 **Poor Arsenal, this is why Tinkers can't have nice things.**

 **I did say that there'd be more folks from Worm showing up in various guises, but I never said that they'd have a big role. I suspect that Coil will make an appearance as a member of Cerberus...or possible his own organization bent on taking over Novaria or something. There is one regular on the cast with her own alternate though.**

 **Why did I give him a hoverboard? Because why the fuck not? Why did I have him take it apart? Because Tinker. Also, its kinda funny. As for his guns, their basically Blaster pistols from star wars that look like modern handguns.**

 **Normally, I'd make Shepard a Paragon, but this time things will be a little different. Mainly because, although she isn't technically a renegade, shes not the type of person who'd hesitate pulling the trigger. Plus, she HATES Batarians. Her reputation will come out in the not too distant future.**

 **Anyway, time to wrap this up. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	3. Chapter 3

Tinker Effect

Most people in my situation are there due to vaguely defined ROBs dragging them into a malfunctioning game. In my case, I think its because of a group of interdimensional nutcases out to defeat a golden Superman. Oh well, at least I'm not as helpless as some of them.

 **And we're back. Nothing to say here, other than enjoy!**

Chapter 3

About three hours after we left the Citadel, Shepard called everyone to the briefing room.

"Alright everyone...whats wrong with Arsenal?" said Shepard, apparently catching my mood from my drooping shoulders.

"He accidentally dismantled his hoverboard," said Tali, sounding amused.

"How do you accidentally dismantle something?" asked Alenko.

"When you're a Tinker, its irritatingly easy," I grumbled.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the first time I'd done something like that. In the six months I'd been active, I'd gone through three TVs and two entertainment systems, not to mention about five different guns, three sets of armour and I'd even dismantled my halberd for parts twice. Of course, I'd then rebuild it better than it was before, but it was still a massive pain in the neck.

"Alright, back on track," said Shepard before anyone could ask what the hell I was talking about, "We've been given a couple of possible leads, but we're starting with Matriarch Benezia's daughter who was last seen on a dig in the Artemis Tau cluster. She may have some details on her Mothers actions."

There was a general murmur of assent.

"The ground team will consist of Arsenal, Wrex and Garrus," continued Shepard, "We don't know what to expect, so I want some heavy hitters along."

I'll also see about building some better shield emitters for everyone and upgrade your guns before we arrive," I said.

Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"You can do that?" she asked.

I snorted.

"I can build plasma guns out of scrap metal," I deadpanned, "Of course I can do that!"

"Plasma guns?"

"I'll show you later," I said.

"Hmm, I'm not entirely comfortable taking untested equipment into battle…" started Shepard.

"Untested my purple arse," I said, "What do you think I've been doing for the past six months? Any gear I make is safe and will work or I won't use it. I DO run more tests than just pulling the trigger and hoping for the best."

"You can trust his work Shepard," said Garrus, "He repaired and upgraded my sniper after it got damaged in a fight and now its practically semi automatic, is insanely accurate and the range is greater than anything I've ever heard of."

"Speaking of, I probably ought to see about checking that," I said.

"Still working perfectly, but I'll drop by later," said Garrus.

"Alright, I'll allow it," said Shepard, "Frankly, I suspect we'll need all the help we can get. Dismissed."

* * *

It didn't take me long to upgrade the ground teams weapons (resisting the urge to make them shoot energy like my guns. That would come later) and it took even less time to produce a full set of Tinkertech shield generators for the team. They weren't actually that different from normal ones, the only difference was that they were Tinkertech and thus, complete bullshit. With those done, I turned my attention to the weapon I had in mind for Wrex. It was a hammer, so big and heavy that the only beings with a hope of wielding it were Krogen, high level Brutes or me in my armour. The entire thing was composed of a unique Eezo-titanium alloy that I could only produce with my Tinkertech smelter, which meant that it could act as a focus and amplifier for Biotics, as well as its primary and most dangerous function.

The weapon was designed to take the force with which it was swung and, upon impact, increase the mass of the head by a factor proportional to the speed it was swung at for a brief instant, massively increasing the force of the impact. The tech was actually very similar to a set of gauntlets I'd built shortly after I got started and scrapped after I nearly broke my arms using them, so it didn't take me that long to finish the hammer. I wouldn't give it to Wrex just yet though, much better to save it for a special occasion. Like a fight with a Thresher Maw.

I carefully put the hammer away in a safe place where it wouldn't end up being sacrificed on the altar of spare parts and turned my attention to my gutted hoverboard. After eyeing the shell for a moment, I sighed and pushed it to one side. I'd fix it later, but it wasn't really suited for the upcoming mission. Instead, I pulled out another project, this one something I'd been working on for a long time without much luck. Still, I was hoping that I was getting closer to a breakthrough.

I tilted my head slightly as the motion tracker in my helmet caught someone rounding the corner of the crates that hid my lab. A flick of my eyes brought up a screen that showed the view of one of the hidden cameras I'd installed to make sure no one nicked my stuff.

"Need something Shepard?" I asked as the Commander stopped behind me.

Shepard raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask how I knew it was her.

"I was wondering how your work was coming along," she said.

"Guns are done and back in the lockers and the shield generators are over there," I said, pointing at a box on the side, "Just replace the standard emitters in your armour and they'll work fine."

Shepard quickly checked the box and nodded.

"Thank you for this," she said.

"Not a problem," I said, "I'll probably end up building some more personal weapons for the squad in the future, but they'll do for now."

I glanced at her.

"Did you need anything else?"

Shepard shrugged and lent against the crate behind her.

"I was just hoping to get to know the people I'll be working with," she said, "I've talked to most everyone else, but I admit that I'm very interest in you."

"Oh?"

Shepard nodded.

"How could I not be?" she asked, "I've seen the reports on you. You appeared out of nowhere about six months ago and started taking down criminals on the Citadel like something out of a comic book with weapons and equipment that not even the STG could figure out when they got their hands on some. In fact, according to the reports, some of your tech is simply impossible."

She narrowed her eyes.

"I can't figure you out at all," she said, "Your a Quarian, clearly reasonably young, so you're likely on your Pilgrimage like Tali. However, you have all this incredible technology that should prove to be an incredible gift, so why are you still out here and not back on the Flotilla?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"You know a lot about Quarians Shepard," I said.

"I did my homework. Well?"

I sighed and reached up to rub my temples, only to meet my helmet that I was still wearing.

"Christ, not even a full day and already I'm outed to two people," I muttered.

Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"The truth is, I've not 'returned' to the Flotilla because I was never a part of it," I said, "I'm...well, I'm not sure what I am anymore, but I do know that I'm not actually a Quarian. I'm physically identical to one, but the similarities are only skin deep."

"Then what are you?" asked Shepard.

"According to medical scans and what few scraps of memory I have left, I am...or was a Human," I said.

Shepard gave me a flat look and purposefully looked at my three fingered hands and blatantly inhuman legs. I sighed and tapped the release on my helmet so I could actually rub my temples, ignoring Shepards sharp intake of breath when she saw my face.

"Six months ago, I woke up in an alley with only a few scraps of memory to go by," I said, "I have memories of attending a university, a few books, movies and games and a few blurry memories of people I'm pretty sure are my family. Other than that, its a complete blank. I don't even know my own name."

"Thats why you go by Arsenal?" asked Shepard.

"Pretty much," I said, "I picked the name pretty much at random because it fitted my abilities and intentions."

I snorted.

"I guess something remained from my old self, a sense of whimsy and love of superheroes."

Shepard didn't say anything, she just stared at me with an unreadable expression on her face. I squirmed under her gaze, my mind trying to figure out why that look was setting off my instincts to such a massive degree that I wasn't sure if I wanted to run, curl up and cry or shoot her in the head.

"Thats...quite a story," she said at length.

I sighed.

"I get that its hard to believe, but its the truth," I said, "Not sure what else I can say to make you believe."

"Oh no, I believe you," said Shepard, "I know how to read people and, even though your not like anyone I've ever seen before, your tells are Human enough that I can tell your telling the truth."

I blinked.

"Well, thats...cool I guess," I said, "So, what are you going to do now?"

Shepard sighed deeply and rubbed her eyes.

"I know what its like to lose everything," she said, "I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I can't even imagine what its like to literally lose everything like you have."

"Pretty disorienting," I said, "I mean, its not to bad because I can't remember anything about what I lost, but still…"

"It'd be nice to have closure," finished Shepard, "I can't promise anything for obvious reasons, but if you like, I'd be willing to try and find out any information I can."

I blinked. That was a tad unexpected.

"You'd do that?" I asked.

Shepard smiled thinly.

"Your not a soldier or a mercenary," she said, "Your not getting payed to be here but you came along willingly and are offering your tech to help us. Making some enquiries is a small price to pay for that. Besides, I like to help out where I can."

She pushed off the boxes and turned to leave.

"Shepard...thanks," I said, feeling a little choked up that she'd do something like that for me, a complete stranger.

"Like I said, its no trouble," she said, "Oh, and you don't need to be so formal. Like I said, your not a subordinate and, after telling me all that, I think your entitled to be a little more relaxed around me."

"So...what should I call you?" I asked.

Shepard glanced back at me and smiled.

"Fortuna," she said, "My name is Fortuna."

Shepard walked away, leaving me feeling like I'd just been dunked in liquid nitrogen. Well, that explains why I felt so uncomfortable around her at least!

 **Done. A little short, but I really don't care. I suspect the future chapters will be longer anyway.**

 **So, a briefing, a brief look at what hes working on and a chat with Shepard...who's apparently Contessa's alternate self. Yeah, shes not as much of a Paragon as she appears, although shes certainly not as ruthless as Contessa is...well, unless Batarians are involved.**

 **Next time, saving Liara! Should be fun. Anyway, until then, leave a review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Tinker Effect

Most people in my situation are there due to vaguely defined ROBs dragging them into a malfunctioning game. In my case, I think its because of a group of interdimensional nutcases out to defeat a golden Superman. Oh well, at least I'm not as helpless as some of them.

 **And we're back. Nothing to say here, other than enjoy!**

Chapter 4

I think it goes without saying, but Shepards reveal that she was likely this realities version of Contessa (and I still have no idea how this whole thing works) shook me up more than a little, leading me to do something I like to call 'Stress Tinkering', which usually results in me making something completely random that often makes the universe cry out for mercy or is so dangerous I quickly dismantled it to prevent it from accidentally destroying the Citadel. To be fair, that monument to mass murder really did need blowing up, but not while I was living on it. Considering that the Normandy was significantly less sturdy than the Citadel, I tried to channel the stress Tinkering into something a tad less dangerous.

Two hours later, I was eyeing the silvery piller on my workbench with a rather odd expression. Why couldn't I have created something like this during one of my other Stress Tinkering sessions rather than ME fusion bombs and nuclear powered shotguns? This thing was actually useful!

"Whats that?"

"GAH!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin as Tali appeared out of nowhere next to me. The sudden yelp made Tali jump as well.

"Jesus christ, you scared me!" I muttered as I tried to calm my heart rate down.

"S-sorry," said Tali, poking her fingertips together, "I knocked, but you didn't respond and…"

I chuckled and shook my head.

"Its fine, I was just distracted," I said, "So, did you need something?"

Tali shifted awkwardly.

"Um, I was hoping to maybe have a look at some of your technology," she said, " I mean, if thats alright. Its just all so amazing, I…"

I laughed again and pulled out a small crate next to the one I was using as a chair. Tali hesitantly took the offered seat, perching on the edge as she curiously looked at the many half finished/cannibalized bits and bobs that covered my workbench.

"What is all this?" she asked as she picked up a bit of metal with glowing blue wires sticking out of it.

I shrugged.

"Bits and bobs that I never finished for whatever reason mostly," I said, "I prefer to recycle where I can and its easier to take components I need out of unneeded bits of tech than make them from scratch most of the time."

I scowled.

"It also stops me from accidentally taking apart something I actually use...most of the time."

Tali giggled at my obvious irritation. She took a closer look at the deatris covering the desk and reached out, picking up an Omni Tool band.

"Whats this?" she asked.

"Huh, I'd forgotten about that," I said as I took it and turned it over in my hand, "Its the first Omni Tool I got after I woke up. Its not really anything special, the only upgrades to it are the programming, but its still leagues ahead of anything you could find on the market."

Tali looked impressed (although I have no idea how I knew that considering) and looked down at her own Omni Tool.

"Wish I had something like that," she said, "This things about 20 years out of date and theres only so much I can do with high level programming."

I glanced down at the band in my hands again, before holding it out to her.

"Here, you can have this if you want," I said.

Tali looked rather taken aback by that.

"B-but…"

"I don't need it," I said, tapping my wrist, "I built a way better one ages ago. Thats just good for gathering dust, so you might as well take it and get some use out of it."

Tali looked between me and the Omni Tool and slipped it into a pocket of her suit.

"Thank you," she said.

She glanced back at the silvery column on my workbench.

"So, what is that?" she asked.

I snorted.

"Something I cobbled together while deep in thought and a clear example of exactly why Tinkerteck is bullshit," I said, "Its a sterile field generator. Basically, it can generate a field in which its impossible for any form of contaminant to exist."

The silvery lights that were Tali's eyes went wide behind her helmet.

"Thats...amazing!" she gasped, "Something like that...it'd be a dream come true for the Flotilla!"

"I am aware of that," I said, "Unfortunately, Tinkertech is incredibly difficult to maintain without its original builder. My techs pretty reliable and generally does not need that much maintenance, but if someone was relying on this thing to keep them alive and it failed…"

Tali winced at the idea, before she tilted her head on one side.

"You keep calling yourself a Tinker," she said, "What does that actually mean?"

I huffed.

"Its part of the few memories I have left," I said, "I have no idea who did this to me, but I do know I was far from the only one and there were even more people who received powers naturally. Tinker was the name given to those like me, people who can build things that, logically, are impossible with the current level of technology."

I gestured at my many creations scattered over the boxes and tables around the small area.

"My tech is based on ME principles, but not one of the things I've made has been anywhere close to what should be possible with current knowledge and technology levels. Hell, I'm pretty sure most of it is outside of the Prothean technology, what little of it we've actually found that works. Hell, its so advanced that even my early stuff made the Salarian scientists that examined some the the STG managed to acquire cry and refuse to have anything to do with it in the future."

Tali blinked and eyed my still open hoverboard.

"Really? Seems simple enough to me," she said as she bent over the gutted gadget, "Just do this and this and…"

She did something within the chassis and the board shuddered and activated. Floating a few inches off the crate. My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped as I looked between the board and the Quarian in utter disbelief.

"I...who...wha…" I stuttered, "How did you do that?!"

Tali looked embarrassed.

"I've always been good with tech," she muttered, "It doesn't matter what it is, I can just grasp how something I see works and the best ways to fix it. Your stuff is complicated, but I think I can figure out most of it."

I gaped at her for a moment longer, before I slowly activated my Omni Tool and waved the scanning function over her. That wasn't normal, not even slightly. It had to be a...nope, it wasn't a Parahuman ability. My scan had given me a VERY detailed look at her brain and there was no sign of any kind of Corona Pollentia or indeed anything different from a normal Quarian brain.

"Tali, if you can really do that, that is fucking amazing!" I said, a feeling of awed excitement rising in my chest.

Hell, I could almost hear my Agent crowing in excitement as it started feeding me all sorts of ideas that she could help me with in the future! I quickly turned to the SFG and took of the outer casing, revealing a mass of wires and a glowing, blue sphere that was the power source.

"Take a look at this," I said, "If you can figure out how it works and if you can maintain it, I'll see about making some more. I can't build enough for the entire Migrant Fleet, but I can make enough to let most of the bigger ships have one."

Tali stared at me in surprise.

"You'd do that?" she asked, "Why?"

"Because its the right thing to do?" I said.

That got me a flat look. I rolled my eyes and lent back against my workbench.

"Alright, I do have a few reasons," I said, "I've done a lot of reading into the various Council Races and I find the Quarian's situation frankly sickening. Your ancestors didn't deliberately create the Geth as an AI and, although I do have some issues with how they dealt with them, the Councils reaction to it was massively overblown. Even if I didn't think that, leaving the Quarians to drift for three centuries is a little excessive. The ones who created the Geth are long dead, so now an entire race of completely innocent people is being punished for a crime three centuries old. The Council should have offered you aid decades ago, but instead you're still treated like vermin."

I scowled and shook my head.

"Sorry, I'm getting off topic. Ideally, I'd like to do something to remove the Quarians reliance on Envirosuits entirely, if only so I don't have to wear my armour all the time, but my specialty doesn't really have anything that could do that. Hell, even this thing was pushing it."

I tapped the SFG. That was actually very true. Near as I could tell, I was a Binary Tinker, with my main specialty being in ME based tech and my other being programming, although not to the level of Richter. I wouldn't be making a Dragon of my own anytime soon. On the other hand, I'd managed to make several VI's that I'm pretty damn sure were similar to the Geth to help run my suit and weaponry and my hacking skills had to come from somewhere. Neither of those skills had anything to help get rid of the Quarians need for suits. Oh, I could probably program something like nanites to help, but I didn't have any way to make them. Hmm, maybe I should get in touch with the Geth. They might be able to help.

Believe it or not, getting in touch with the Digital race would be far easier than you might think. The Extranet was absolutely infested with them disguised as a whole range of different programs, individuals and companies. Hell, I'd actually discovered that a good chunk of the investors into Synthetic Insights were actually the Geth under different names and identities. For an isolationist race, they sure did get around. Oh, and if the Extranet was infested, it had NOTHING on the internal networks of the Migrant Fleet. I'd used some bullshit Tinker hacking protocols to get into their system and was promptly booted back out again by what looked like an entire solar systems worth of Geth programs who seemed to be keeping an eye on the Quarians and doing their best to keep them safe. I nearly ended up having my entire system flooded with Geth programs after that little kerfuffle, but I'd managed to convince them that I was only curious. I'm still not entirely sure that they'd all left my system but theres nothing I can really do to kick them out without pissing them off and, programming Tinker or not, I do NOT want an entire race of belligerent AI's coming after me. Even Dragon would have a problem with that.

"I...think I can fix this if it broke," said Tali, breaking me out of my reminiscing.

She was up to her elbows in the SFG as she studied its inner workings.

"I have no idea how it works and I definitely couldn't replicate it, but I could maintain and repair it if necessary," she said.

"Great, in that case, I'll build a few more of these when I get some time and box them up for you," I said, "These'll make a damned nice Pilgrimage Gift for when you get home."

Tali gave a strangled laugh.

"The only thing that would be better would be a shore fire way to defeat the Geth," she said.

I carefully didn't respond to that as I put the cover back on the SFG and started rooting around for a suitable crate to hold it.

"By the way, whats the range of the field?" asked Tali.

"Depending on the power supply, just about anything," I said distractedly, "That said, once it gets larger than about 100 meters, you'll start to run into problems and it becomes less efficient."

"Thats still impressive and more than we had before," said Tali wistfully.

I smiled and patted her on the shoulder as I retook my seat and pulled my console forwards.

"Happy to help," I said, "Now, lets see if theres anything in here you can help with."

Tali glanced at me and I got the impression she was raising an eyebrow.

"You can figure out my tech enough to maintain it," I said, "That in is self is almost completely unprecedented for a non-Tinker. I want to see what you can do with some of my designs. Hell, you might even help me come up with some new ones!"

Tali looked surprised, before she nodded. I'm pretty sure she was smiling under her helmet as I opened up my CAD software and started bringing up some of my designs onto the large screens that were now being projected above my workbench.

* * *

The next couple of hours were spent with much nerd talk, enough insanely complex calculations to make even a Salarien cry for mercy and at least two ideas that I'm pretty sure broke physics worse than Vistas powers, broken only by a short break to go and grab some food after our stomachs started trying to digest themselves and an amused Garrus dropping by to get his rifle looked at.

Eventually, our Tinkering session was interrupted by a serious looking Shepard sticking her head around the corner and clearing her throat. We looked up from where we were bent over an opened up shotgun and fiddling around with its innards. I frowned slightly when I saw the slight smirk on Shepards face. For some reason, it didn't fill me with confidence and made me think that something rather unpleasant was about to happen.

"Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds, but we're coming up on Therum," she said, "Arsenal, suit up and grab your gear."

"Lovebirds?" asked Tali, looking confused, "Is that a Human thing?"

I looked up from where I'd just banged my head into the workbench.

"You could say that," I said as I got to my feet and headed over to my weapon rack, "Your welcome to hang around here while I'm on the ground if you want."

"Ah, no, I should probably head back to Engineering," she said, "If we end up in combat, Engineer Adams might need my help."

"Good idea," I said as I slipped my Halberd into its holster, "Well, once more into the breach I guess."

"Good luck!" called Tali as I jogged out of my workshop area and towards the Mako.

I waved over my shoulder. Something told me that I'd need it.

 **Right, that'll do. Well, this chapter certainly got away from me, but it provides plenty of character development, so thats fine.**

 **Let me be perfectly clear. Tali is NOT a Tinker, just an insanely talented engineer. Remember, although Arsenals tech is insanely advanced for the ME world, its still based on ME principles. That technically means that a sufficiently talented engineer could potentially figure out how it worked well enough to maintain it. Plus, it gives our tech geeks something to bond over.**

 **The Geth being everywhere is something I've been considering for a while. I find it difficult to believe that they would remain behind the Vail when it would be so easy for them to infiltrate the Extranet and watch the Organics without us squishy types noticing. Their also keeping an eye on their Creators, watching for a potential opportunity to make contact and doing their best to keep them alive and well. I actually considered giving Arsenal a Geth as a friend, but since he'll be getting an AI of his own very soon, I decided not to.**

 **Anyway, its currently gone midnight here and I really, REALLY want to hit the sack, so I'll be signing off here. Don't forget to leave a review!**


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